American Hardcore

Starring: Ian Mackaye, Dez Cadena, Joe Carducci, Flea, Jack Flanagan, Dave Markey, Moby, Henry Rollins

Written by: Steven Blush

Directed by: Paul Rachman

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Rated: R

I seem to remember being fascinated by punk rock after reading bits of Greil Marcus’ Lipstick Traces somewhere in the phantom suburban haze of adolescence in the early 90s. Looking for more, I rented the only punk documentary I could find at the local chain video store: Another State of Mind. It follows a low-budget tour with Social Distortion and Youth Brigade across North America in the early 80s, detailing the punk scene as the bands traveled around in a converted school bus, playing one underpaid gig after another. By the end, the bands were so exhausted, malnourished and generally destitute that they had to travel back home with the camera crew from the documentary. This was authentic punk. But aside from Another State of Mind and a handful of films focused on individual bands, most punk documentaries have been academic overviews of the culture in general. Writer Steven Blush and Director Paul Rachman rectify this with American Hardcore – a concentrated look at Reagan-Era hardcore punk.

Abandoning any formal narrative, Rachman pastes contemporary interviews, concert footage, stock footage and photos into a frenzied gestalt that manages to convey a remarkably coherent story. When picturing a hardcore punk concert from two decades ago, one rarely envisions people bringing a VHS camera to record it. Yet, somewhere amidst the manic thrashing of a packed, sweaty audience, there’s one person standing relatively still holding a clunky 80s video camera. Thankfully, they were there capturing the energy for the rest of us. It’s quite an achievement.

With no voiceover, American Hardcore’s narrative speaks through over 100 interviews with people who were there in the early days of hardcore. At a compact 100 minutes total running time, we only catch the brief, impassioned sound bites that Rachman and Blush have tied together with the rest of the footage. The scope of the film is just wide enough to capture the essence of the context in which early 80s punk existed without dragging the film too far away from its central subject matter.

Hardcore addresses the overall social influences over-arching the emergence of the punk scene: the cast-iron conformity of the suburbs meshing with the overall conservative vibe pervasive everywhere. People felt a violent need to express their individuality and act out their rage. It’s satisfying to see a lens cast wide enough to capture the big picture of angry youth gone mad with hardcore, but individual faces blur in the frenzy, never coming close enough to the people involved to bring much substance to the individuality so vehemently expressed. Looking back at the larger picture, though, it’s difficult to imagine a better overall treatment. It’s an irresistible ride to take, whether you were actually there or not. VS